]]>https://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/04/09/everything-buy-mint-arrives/feed/1Assistant Engineering: A Stiff Dose of Realityhttps://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/03/09/assistant-engineering-stiff-dose-reality/
https://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/03/09/assistant-engineering-stiff-dose-reality/#commentsFri, 09 Mar 2018 01:08:06 +0000https://danalexanderaudio.com/?p=1981TURN OFF YOUR PHONE!! I do not mean set it to vibrate! No texting, no phone interaction whatsoever. An Assistant Engineer never volunteers an opinion to the Artist or the Producer (ever!). You will be far better off to say “I don’t know” if asked, even when you have a clear and strong opinion. The […]

TURN OFF YOUR PHONE!! I do not mean set it to vibrate! No texting, no phone interaction whatsoever.

An Assistant Engineer never volunteers an opinion to the Artist or the Producer (ever!).
You will be far better off to say “I don’t know” if asked, even when you have a clear and strong opinion.

The Assistant Engineer exists to make the Engineer look good, even when you think they are making a mistake. If you see a piece of gear that the Engineer had adjusted improperly, point it out only to them, when no one else can hear, and in the most political of ways. For example, “Bob, is this limiter ok?”

An Assistant Engineer never smokes weed before a session, or does any other drugs, even when offered by the Artist, the Producer, or the Engineer, and never drinks an alcoholic beverage before or during a session, and never with the clients unless they invite you out for a beer, in which case you drink only one!

Take a shower before the session. Don’t wear dirty stinking clothes or shoes. Use some mouthwash, and don’t wear your vampire deterrent garlic to the session.

A good Assistant Engineer can substantially reduce the amount of things that an Engineer has to deal with.

Never ask “why” in answer to an Engineer’s request, but If you don”t know how to do something requested, tell the Engineer. Ultimately it’s up to them.

You may ask the Engineer why he used this or that technique or piece of equipment AFTER everyone else has left the studio. Don’t always expect to get a coherent technical answer to any particular question. Engineers learn what works for them, and that’s how they approach many recording situations. They do not necessarily know the technical why of something they do, but they do know they like the way it sounds. As an assistant, you will not always share the
Engineer’s opinion of his techniques, but that must never become an issue, and more importantly, the Engineer must never know.

The Assistant is the most obvious representative of a studio and its technical capabilities, and ideally the Assistant may know as much or more than the Engineer about using the particular equipment at the studio.

As an Assistant, you have to create a positive atmosphere for the Engineer and the other session participants. You do this in ways that are as subtle as possible.

Always pay attention to the session. Don’t be inspecting EQ set ups and taking notes for your education. Do assist the engineer with keeping copious notes of pertinent information about the recording set up and location points. Try as much as possible to be invisible.

Never betray your opinion of the music, the engineering, or any other aspect of the session by facial expression or body language. If directly asked by anyone involved, a simple “I like it” or “sounds good” is the best answer. Whatever you do, in no case offer any suggestions, critiques, arrangement ideas, or any other musical opinion, or recording suggestions, whatsoever! You can learn from what you perceive as an Engineer’s mistakes, but you must never correct them or they will never hire you again.

If you are going to get coffee or any other refreshments, try to ask if anyone wants anything, but never interrupt a conversation or the session work flow.

Never ask anything through the talkback system unless you have a specific request from the Engineer or Producer to do so.

An Assistant Engineer is not a person who offers “creative” recording ideas. The Assistant never volunteers “we got a cool snare sound with a Nakamichi mic” or “I love backwards echo on snare drum.” An Assistant never offers anything to do with recording technique or music. He always defers to the Engineer or Producer.

The ultimate objective is for everyone to have such a positive and productive experience that they will want to come back to the studio and work with the assistant again.

Best book for the Assistant Engineer: “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

]]>https://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/03/09/assistant-engineering-stiff-dose-reality/feed/1Giant Microphone Standshttps://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/03/09/giant-microphone-stands/
https://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/03/09/giant-microphone-stands/#respondFri, 09 Mar 2018 01:07:33 +0000https://danalexanderaudio.com/?p=1979So. You took the plunge, and purchased a big heavy expensive condenser microphone. It cost as much as your car, maybe. So how do you feel about putting it on one of your standard mic stands? The ones you buy at the music store? What if someone knocks your sizeable investment over and breaks it […]

]]>So. You took the plunge, and purchased a big heavy expensive condenser microphone.
It cost as much as your car, maybe. So how do you feel about putting it on one of your standard mic
stands? The ones you buy at the music store? What if someone knocks your sizeable investment over and
breaks it in one way or another?
What you need is a real microphone stand! Three companies made microphone stands that are
nearly impossible to tip over: Starbird, RCA, and Mole-Richardson.
These classic boom stands are somewhat similar in design, but differ in details, fittings and
quirks. They are each about 6 – 7 feet tall, and when you extend the boom arm, you can place your U47
about 15 feet up. The stand base consists of 3 separate arms that extend from the central shaft.
The Starbird is the classic stand seen in many ’40s and ’50s recording studios.
The RCA stand is quite similar, differing in its base construction.
The Mole-Richardson “Comet 75” is painted a cool dark purple color, and was originally
designed as a stand for lights on film sets and for photo studios. They also have attachments for
microphone stand mounts. The fittings on the Mole-Richardson stands are arguably slightly better than on
the Starbird or RCA stands.
As these were all quite expensive when they were made, they are scarce. We have seen more
Starbirds than the other two brands.
If you have a large room, there’s nothing better than one or more of these giant stands.

]]>https://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/03/09/giant-microphone-stands/feed/0How to pack, move, tune, and clean an EMT Plate Reverbhttps://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/02/21/tune-clean-pack-move-emt-plate-reverb/
https://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/02/21/tune-clean-pack-move-emt-plate-reverb/#respondWed, 21 Feb 2018 04:32:33 +0000https://danalexanderaudio.com/?p=1743HOW TO PACK AN EMT 140 PLATE REVERB FOR SHIPPING After damaging 14 of 21 plate reverbs that I bought from CBS in NY, in 1983 or so, I devised this packing method. It has proven to be very effective. However, no packing job can stand up to the determined assault of a rabid forklift! […]

After damaging 14 of 21 plate reverbs that I bought from CBS in NY, in 1983 or so, I devised this packing method. It has proven to be very effective. However, no packing job can stand up to the determined assault of a rabid forklift! The main problem in moving plates is that when a unit is dropped, the plate falls and breaks the little springs and clips that hold it onto the frame. When the plate falls, it shears off the pickups, and ruins the driver coil as well. The plate itself may be bent, but that is not usually a major problem … so … to pack the plate:

1) Remove both sides by removing the 10mm bolts that hold the sides on. Be careful not to drop the sides on your foot, as they are quite heavy.

2) Remove the driver magnet. It is roughly the size of a fist. Located near the center of the plate, it is cylindrical and held on by screws. When removing it, pull it straight back so as to not damage the driver coil, which remains affixed to the plate after the driver magnet is removed. Replace the screws into their holes and tighten them snugly for shipping. When replacing the driver magnet, it is important to not damage the driver coil, and the driver coil must be centered in the driver magnet slot. EMT made a special plexiglass guide for this purpose.

3) Remove the electronics from the end of the plate. First remove the connectors by pulling them straight back. They do not unscrew. Remove the cover plate and the electronics by unscrewing the appropriate screws. Pack the electronics and the driver magnet in a separate carton. Do a good job. The driver magnet is nearly irreplaceable; DONT LOSE IT!

4) Loosen the plate by unscrewing one corner bolt 1 turn only. Make note of which one you loosened.

5) Using gaffers tape or packaging tape, tape the plate itself so that it is taped many many times to the pipe frame. Do not tape it to the damper mechanism. At least 40 pieces of tape must be used!

6) If there is tape residue on the plate after unpacking, use some alcohol or Goof Off to remove it.

7) Tape the damper arms so that the damper cannot move in any way. Do not tape the damper to the plate.

8) Replace the sides on the plate. This is not that easy, but you can do it. It requires 2 or 3 people.

9) The plate is ready to move.

10) To move one requires a piano dolly or other small, 4 wheeled, rolling dolly. The EMT weighs 425 pounds. You only ever want to lift one end, never both ends at the same time. Two 20-26 inch pipes or other similar “handles” are pushed through the holes in the metal brackets at either end of the plate.

11) Two people at each end of the plate, one at each end of the two metal pipe handles, is the prescribed method of moving. Remember, the object is to not drop the plate, and for everyone to be able to walk the next day. If you move it in a truck, be sure it is well tied down.

Making a calibrated wrench for the purpose of tuning an EMT 140 plate reverb.

Here is a simple, effective solution for a problem that’s been bugging studio techs for 60 years.
The following items are required:

– A 10mm wrench suitable for turning the 10mm “tensioning bolts” on the plate. A one-ended wrench is preferable.
– A piece of spring steel approximately 5-7 inches in length and ¾ of an
inch wide with a small hole in one end. These dimensions are not critical. See the photos to get an idea of how to shape it.
– Several small tie wraps or other ingenious method of attaching the spring steel to the wrench.
– A handle of thin insulated wire or hefty string about 8 – 10″ long.
– A metal protractor approximately 5″ – 7″ at the base. This will be cut so the size is not overly critical.

Please see the accompanying photographs for correct assembly.
If you can’t figure it out from the pictures, I don’t suggest Ikea…

Calibrating the wrench.

You will need one or two spare springs.
After assembly, use the wrench to tighten one tensioning bolt until you break the spring, noting on the protractor scale when you reach the breaking point. Mark a spot on the scale slightly lower than this point. Make the mark permanent, as you want to minimize the number of springs that you break.

Instructions for use.

– Tighten the tensioning bolts reasonably tight.
– Place the calibrated wrench on one of the tensioning bolts.
– Pull down on the wire loop attached to the end of the spring steel until the spring steel reaches the calibrated point on the protractor scale.
– Remove the wrench and move on to the next bolt.
– You may want to repeat the process a second time after you have gone all around the plate.
– The actual tuning process for a plate takes about 10 minutes and produces an even tension around the plate that is as tight as it can be without breaking springs.

Credit for the invention of this device must be given to Mr. Steven Schulze, a clever fellow and a fine technician.

Tuning and Cleaning an EMT 140 Plate Reverb.

There are few alignment procedures in audio as mysterious and misunderstood as tuning an EMT 140 plate reverb. We are going to set the record straight now. There are two parameters and only two parameters affected by tuning a plate. The low frequency decay time is determined by how tight the plate is tuned. The overall smoothness of the reverb decay is determined by the evenness of the tension around the plate. I suggest that a torque wrench of a correct type to allow accurate adjustment of the plate tension is a great tool. Tuning plates by ear is a frustrating and near impossible task. We built our own wrench with a piece of spring steel attached to a hand wrench with a calibrated scale attached. You want to get the plate as tight as possible without snapping the springs and clips which hold the plate on the frame. It helps to have a few extras when you are calibrating your torque wrench.

Aside from tuning, it is nice to have a clean, rust free plate. We have had great luck with a floor buffer and white Dupont rubbing compound on very badly rusted plates. Naval jelly, available from most hardware stores works well to remove small amounts of rust. With the plate still mounted in the frame, but to machine buff, the plate itself first must be completely removed from the frame and laid flat on a piece of plywood. Using plenty of white Dupont rubbing compound and a steel wool polishing pad on a floor polishing machine works wonders. One can easily polish the plate to a degree never done by EMT.

]]>https://danalexanderaudio.com/2018/02/21/tune-clean-pack-move-emt-plate-reverb/feed/0How to Pack a Guitar for Shippinghttps://danalexanderaudio.com/2017/09/06/how-to-pack-a-guitar-for-shipping/
https://danalexanderaudio.com/2017/09/06/how-to-pack-a-guitar-for-shipping/#respondWed, 06 Sep 2017 01:38:10 +0000https://danalexanderaudio.com/?p=133The post How to Pack a Guitar for Shipping appeared first on Dan Alexander Audio.
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Packing a guitar for shipping requires a few essential items, and a bit of work if one actually wants the instrument to arrive without damage. Here is the method I have developed over the last 15 years. In that time I have shipped Many nice instruments, only a couple of which sustained any damage. In those instances, the damage was due to my own incompetency, or stupidity as the case may be.

It is certainly highly preferable for the guitar to ship within a hardshell case. If a chipboard case, no case or a gigbag is all that is available , extra precautions are necessary.

Loosen the strings so there in no tension on the neck.

If the instrument is shipping to a tropically hot climate, placing the body of the guitar inside a plain brown paper bag, before bubblewrapping is a good idea.

Using bubble wrap or crumpled newspaper, pack the guitar ,INSIDE of the case so that the guitar is completely immobilized. Place sufficient packing materials under the headstock in order to support that very vulnerable part of the guitar.

If the bridge is removable, take it off and place it in the case pocket, or wrap it in some of the packing material so that it simply cannot scratch the instrument. If the end pin is removable, do the same with it.

The butt of the guitar body must be well cushioned from being dropped, so push the body in the case towards the peghead before inserting some packing there at the bottom of the guitar. I also put a sheet of bubblewrap over the top of the guitar and the neck.

After packing the guitar inside the case, I give it a few good shakes to be certain it is immoblized.

I usually put at least one extra layer of bubblewrap at the butt and the top of the case before putting a layer of bubblewrap on , completely enclosing the case. If the guitar is dropped, or falls, these are the two most vulnerable areas.

If the case is a hardshell, this should be sufficient to prevent damage, however, the guitar MUST be immoblized WITHIN the packing box, so additional material will need to be placed inside the box for this purpose. A guitar case that can move when you try to push it around inside the box is NOT properly packed.

If the case is not a hardshell, or if there is No case, the first box must be wrapped in an additional layer of bubblewrap, and placed within a second,slightly larger box, and also made immobile.

Because of size limits in shipping, it is sometimes necessary to cut down the boxes to fit the length of the instrument. If one is shipping a short scale bass, one does not require a box that is 6 inches longer than the case, or the interior box. The easiest way to cut down a box is to run a razor knife, down the four edges (corners) of the box past the ideal length to the end of the box. The excess length can be either cut off, or folded over the case or interior box and taped down.

The ends of the boxes should be taped closed with plenty of tape, not just on the edges.

An extra label giving the shippers and the recievers address should also be taped to the side of the box, preferably also giving the phone number or emailaddress of the recipient.

The shipping label should be carefully taped to the END ( the smallest surface) of the box, done carefully so as to not have wrinkles in the tape over the bar codes. If one is shipping fed ex, or international usps, use a bit of tape to ensure that the mailing pouch that contains shipping documents cannot be ripped or scraped off the box.

]]>https://danalexanderaudio.com/2017/09/06/how-to-pack-a-guitar-for-shipping/feed/0Funny Storieshttps://danalexanderaudio.com/2017/09/05/funny-stories/
https://danalexanderaudio.com/2017/09/05/funny-stories/#commentsTue, 05 Sep 2017 05:16:00 +0000http://information.danalexanderaudio.com/?p=109Funny Stories Here’s one for you….guy called me one time looking for a driver magnet for an EMT, because his ex took it when she left….can you picture her removing the side in order to get at it? The “creative moment” has always seemed magical to me. I don’t know where songs come from. Sometimes […]

Here’s one for you….guy called me one time looking for a driver magnet for an EMT, because his ex took it when she left….can you picture her removing the side in order to get at it?

The “creative moment” has always seemed magical to me. I don’t know where songs come from. Sometimes they seem to simply appear.

I know John Seabury as a member of the Psycotic Pineapple, a local Berkeley group that I had the pleasure of producing in the late 70’s. He is also an acclaimed poster /cartoon artist in the R. Crumb vein. I have a collection of his original art. One quite striking example of the creative moment occurred one day in the early 80’s:

One day, we had a band meeting in my office. John says to me “Give me a pen and I’ll draw you a picture”….

I replied “Here, have two”, and I handed him two pens……He took the two pens and a piece of paper, and immediately started furiously drawing, and not more than 90 seconds later, handed me a picture of a head in profile, all doubled; with an arm raised with two fingers displayed in a victory sign, NOT doubled….and the phrase “how many fingers?”.

The point is, John had no idea that I would hand him two pens instead of one and obviously, he created the picture “in the moment”. It is a great picture and I will never forget how amazed I was when he handed it to me. Of course, I still have it. Some of John’s wonderful art work is featured in the classic book “The Art of Rock”.
He’s also a great bass player, singer and songwriter.

The burnt up Neve: I heard that BBC Manchester, England, had had a fire in the control room. I called and asked what happened to the console. “It’s in bits and pieces under a tarp outside”.….”Can I buy it?” I asked….”No one would want this, they replied”…so I said I’d like to take a look….well, the long and the short of it is, I bought the pieces for $750. It had (56) 3104 input modules…

The drowned Neve..…there was a studio in the midwest under construction…full bore place…the 8078 was in the control room under tarps…..a workman (a fine craftsman, no doubt) was doing something to a water pipe that ran thru the control room ceiling on a Friday evening….everybody went home…..on Monday,the control room was FILLED with water……

One time (I think in 1981 or so) an engineer from Thames Television (which no longer exists), called me on the phone to ask if I might be interested in some old AKG C12 mics that they were getting rid of. As usual , I asked if there was any gear he might be interested in swapping for. So, we made a deal where I got (9) C12 systems and he got a new pair of BOSE 802 speakers and 5 copies of “Modern Recording Techniques” by Robert Runstein! ………..It was his idea of a fair trade!

He later apologized to me as the 9th mic had a cable but no supply…….. I was steamed, let me tell you……..

One day the phone rings and it’s a very famous engineer, whose name I can’t recall, and he wants to buy a pair of Neve 2254 limiters. I don’t have them at the moment I tell him, but I do have a 33609 . He starts ranting about how he can’t stand the 33609 , never ever uses them, they suck and blah blah blah.

So, I ask him how he likes the 32264 modular limiters that one finds on 8058, 8068, or 8078 consoles….he then goes on about how great they are, he loves them and uses them all the time….I had to bite my tongue to refrain from telling him that a 32264 and a 33609 are exactly the same circuit board in a different box…………

I got a call to sell some tube mics and Pultecs to Frank Zappa one time. I got the address in Laurel Canyon , and went over there. I wandered around looking for the house but none of the places had numbers…I went to a wooden gate that I thought must be it, and rang the buzzer. A kid, maybe 8 years old answered and I asked “Is this Frank Zappa’s house?” “No”…..gate slams closed…..after 15 minutes of additional wandering, I figured it out and went back……(it was Dweezil).

I was sitting in the office of a European studio (actually it was in the basement of the Vienna Opera House) one day (about 1983) and I’m buying 14 U47’s for $325 each. The chief engineer walks in and sits down and asks me, “What do you want this old junk for?” I ask him if he has ever tried these mics… “Oh, no. We use the new microphones,” he replies………

One time Stephan Temmer, then the owner of Gotham audio and the sole “authorized” importer of Neumann products into the U.S. told me (1980 or so), “Any recording engineer who uses a tube U47 is obviously not a professional”……

For many, many years, Gotham would regularly charge $100 to anyone who sent in an “illegally imported” Neumann mic for repair as a “registration” fee. They would also, without asking, replace any “Telefunken” logo badge with a “Neumann” badge.

In 1955 the chief of engineering for MGM films, ordered 200 U47 grill tops and capsules from Neumann and built the now obscurely famous “Telecine Church Mics” from them. Stephan Temmer was so incensed by this temerity, that he refused to sell anyone in the U.S. any Neumann parts for the next 30 years, even though they were readily available from Neumann dealers throughout the rest of the world.

Gotham kept (and probably still does) keep a list of stolen Neumann products. Whenever one was sent back to them for repair that showed up on their hot sheet, they would inform the sender that the mic had been stolen from so and so and was being returned to them….one time I left a U67 with the owner of Hit Factory in NY. He called me up the next day screaming at me that this mic had been stolen and what was I trying to pull, trying to sell him hot mics? I asked where it was stolen from. This mic was stolen recently from Wally Heider’s in LA, he yelled at me. I said that’s interesting, because I just bought that mic from Janna Feliciano, and she owns Heider’s LA…….. go figure……

One time, I was talking with an English audio dealer on the phone. He asks, do I want to buy an AKG C12A mic? Sure how much? $350 or so……ok…..the mic arrives and it is painted lime green……I call him up and say, you didn’t mention that the mic was lime green. He says, what, don’t you like the color?

I sold a pair of Neve 33115 modules to a very good engineer friend of mine. Seriously, he’s an excellent engineer….so a year and a half later, he calls me up and says a tech has opened his modules to fix something, and has discovered that one module was all IC amps (600 series IC amps instead of 400 series discrete amps). I had no idea, and I exchanged amp boards for him, but he used them as a pair, for 18 months without noticing any difference! As a result, I did a comparison myself and the difference is slight; very subtly noticeable in the low end.

The most influential elements of the Neve designs seem to be the transformers and the simplicity of the circuits themselves, not the particular amplifiers.

A number of years ago, during a San Francisco AES conventions, a European manufacturer of microphones came to our studio, Coast Recorders , to do a comparison of their new tube mic with our vintage mics. We invited a number of well known engineers to participate. Upon the arrival of the new microphone, the box was opened to reveal a mic that was gold plated, except for the body tube, which was made of clear glass. I asked the gentleman if the regular production model was made of gold plated metal? No, he responded, this is the production model. I asked, what happens when they drop it? He says, “If you had an $8,000 tube mic, would you drop it?”……you all know the answer to that ……..

Jay Kaufman, one of the most brilliant technical minds in audio, and a dear friend, once told me his idea of a good tech was “one who fixes more than he breaks…..”

I’m a pretty casual dresser….in fact, I’m a hippy bum….the idea of clothes shopping isn’t my favorite…..at one AES convention, my friend Matthias and I were wandering and came to the Publison booth..…the Infernal Machine (no doubt named after the often impossible-to-comprehend instruction manual) had just been released. We had an AN89 at my studio, and I turned to the well-dressed French person (I’m sure he was Mr. Publison) at the booth and said “We have one of these at my studio, and we like it a lot”.…he took a step backwards, pointedly looked me up and down…..and said in an astonished tone of voice,”YOU have one of MY units?” Apparently, each Publison unit was sold with a dress code…..Publison seems to have gone into other endeavors…..

I was once persuaded to send a pair of Neve limiters and a pair of Neve input modules to a guy in Philadelphia to “try out”….he never paid me and then stopped taking my calls. One time I succeeded in getting him on the phone, and after yelling at him for a while, the guy threatened me with “You know, you’re only a short plane ride away.” It turned out he also was “trying out” some mics that belonged to an east coast audio dealer….so the audio dealer and I made a deal…..I paid for $500 worth of whatever, and he went with a couple of large friends to retrieve our gear, which he did without further incident!!! I love that guy, and wear his t shirts to this day….

A number of years ago there was an AES convention in San Francisco. I attended one morning and as I was leaving, came upon an acquaintance of mine, who asked if he could possibly use my entry badge for a friend of his.

Without thinking twice about it, I handed it over. It seems that his friend, whom I never met, was not only a bit, err, scruffy, but also a bit obnoxious and loud. ..So this guy has my name badge on and he went to the Sony booth (I’ve been told, understand, I wasn’t there) and listened to the Oxford demo (something I never have heard) and loudly proclaimed it to be this and that (all bad) and apparently did a number of rather odd things at various booths including the Avalon booth (I’ve heard)……well…. I may be a bit scruffy at times and I may be somewhat opinionated and enthusiastic, but it was not, was not, not me. When I saw the Avalon stuff at the convention, I thought it looked great and sounded very good. Love those oval meters and the pseudo Fender knobs too…… it’s hard enough to deal with all the real situations without being responsible for some other nutcase who filches your identity. I was lucky, it was only for a few hours…..

Into the dumpster! Over the years, I have encountered numerous credible stories about classic gear that was thrown away or scrapped.…here are a few of them…..

Oh yeah, here’s a good one….German Broadcast stomped on and threw away 200 Neumann M49’s!!! By today’s prices, that would be a cool $1,000,000, give or take a few marks….this happened about 25 years ago….

“What do you want this old junk for?”….Austrian Classical Recording Engineer in 1979…..